The beauty of this world and the mysteries behind every culture are two of the many things that inspire me to travel. The curiosity to understand what others had left behind for us to enjoy or learn. The perfection of nature and the details behind its beauty, blows my mind away. These are just … Read more Inspired to Travel!
Come take a look! I was walking Christmas Eve afternoon around Fort Lauderdale beach and found that plenty of people like to hang at the beach during the holiday. The restaurants and bars were full, the walkway by the side of the beach was embracing the different characters that were just hanging there and the … Read more How people celebrate Christmas Eve in Fort Lauderdale?
After a great week in Iceland where Gate 1 was in charge of our vacation and we just enjoyed it, we were about to start a whole different experience in Ireland. We landed at Dublin in the morning, got our rental car and with GPS in hand we were off to go to the city. … Read more Learning How to drive in Ireland
Come take a look! I was walking Christmas Eve afternoon around Fort Lauderdale beach and found that plenty of people like to hang at the beach during the holiday. The restaurants and bars were full, the walkway by the side of the beach was embracing the different characters that were just hanging there and the beach was happy that people considered it as a choice to spend the day. Let’s take a look.
Taking a picture is part of the fun when you are out in a place. Taking pictures is a part of the every day life for us. People love to document what they do, they love to share it to! 😉
Like all these people I was there too and taking pictures. But I wanted to see them, having fun and enjoying life!
I sat comfortably in my beach chair with sunglasses on, ready for my “nothing to do day”. We were close to the shore line where the soft waves sooth the ambience noise.
Two peculiar bird flew by close to the water and shore line. They caught my attention, but I was there for beach business so I continue to relax. Few minutes later they were there again, two of them, one in front of the other. The birds were flying so low, almost touching the water. The duo passed by over and over again, they lifted their flight a little and continued flying until they disappear from my sight. I never seen that kind of bird before. Their strange orange and black beak woke up my relax mode to alert mode. I notice that when they got close to the water, they skim the water with their lower beak.During the day I try numerous time to capture them in flight with my camera. I wanted to see the bird in details. To be honest, most of my afternoon went by trying over and over to get pictures.
Scanning my pictures for details, I couldn’t find the birds eyes. I looked, I zoom, and there were no eyes! I thought to myself:
“Maybe they don’t have eyes? No! Impossible!”
At that moment, I wanted to take more pictures to find the eyes of my flying friends. A little prayer asking them to stop flying won’t be a bad idea.. I wanted to meet the black and white feather creature in person, a close encounter.
For my surprise my prayer request got answered. I was sitting on my beach chair again, looking diligently everywhere. Then, I hear my husband calling,
“Xamara, hurry come here now! Hurry!”
I ran toward him and there it was, my friend stopped by to model for me.
Can you see the eyes?
Fun Facts
about black skimmers
There are only three species of skimmers: black, Indian, and African skimmer
The black skimmer is the largest of the three species
They can be found in the coastal areas of North, Central and South America
The lower mandible is longer than the upper one
Is the only bird in America that have the unusual feeding habit of skimming the water to capture small fish, and small crustaceans
Their young ones have the same length on both mandibles
Almost there!! After almost 4 hours drive from Orlando FL, before you get to Sanibel Island there is a toll bridge of $6 that connects to the island. Once we passed the bridge we wanted to visit the lighthouse that is on the eastern tip of the island. We found our way around, we parked, ready to explore the lighthouse, by the way the parking is $2 dollars. The 120 year old lighthouse also have access to the beach, a little detail that I didn’t know until we got there.
Check this link out! It has the history of the lighthouse, very interesting. I always like to know at least a little bit of the places I go, specially if am writing something about it.
We decided it to take a look at the beach by the lighthouse, that was not in our plans because I didn’t know that the lighthouse had access to the beach. Below you can see the bridge we passed minutes ago, this view is from the tip of the island..
The views were pretty but the water wasn’t very inviting, at least not enough to make us wanted to stay. It looks to me like a wide open bay, not that intimate, peaceful look, the one we that we were looking for. But it was ok, because our plans were to go to Bowmans Beach Regional Park. Racing with the heat we got to the car again for 30 more minutes drive to our new destination, hoping that we could get as soon as possible to the refreshing waters of the gulf.
Sanibel Lighthouse Beach
It is funny when you realize that a little bit information and research of a place you want to visit could make the experience completely different. I wanted to visit Sanibel Island but I didn’t do much research about it. I looked at the map and I only saw Bowmans Beach Regional Park as the only beach identified as a beach on the map, so, that was enough for me. I didn’t complicate my life digging into it.
Thirty minutes later, like always we decided to take a look at the beach first before getting the stuff out of the car. We like to study the area to see where we could make our little temporary resting nest. We started to walk through a trail, we followed the sign and kept walking, then the restrooms, more signs, then a wooden trail, and then a bridge that goes over fresh water… We looked at each other wondering how much longer we had to walk to get to the beach. Later I found out that the walk from the parking to the beach is .25 miles. When we finally reach the beach we saw a nice view, not too many people, the water it was inviting and look very refreshing. I don’t know if it was the heat that it was driving us crazy but we all wanted to get in the water. The only problem was that we had to walk all the way back to the parking to get our stuff and walk back to the beach. At the end of the day we walked one whole mile just going back and forth to and from the beach. 🙂
Later on, once we were back home I found this website that list and describe all the beaches that Sanible Island have. I wish I had found it earlier, but here I have it to share it with you. SanibelTrails.com
Shells and more shells!!My kids playing around
The Funny Part of This Story!
Once we were settle, that we already enjoyed the warm water of the gulf, play and talk with the kids we sat under our umbrella to relax and read. My son Jay went for a run and my daughter, Jorge and me were ready to read each of us our own things. When suddenly Jorge tells me with a calm/hysterical voice:
Jorge: A shark! There is a shark! (I look at him, and I said)
Me: Jorge stop! That is not funny you could scare people!
Jorge: I am not kidding! I saw something on the water…
Me: It could be a dolphin, let me see.
I started to pay attention to the water, when I saw it!!!! I took my camara and run to the shore to recorded. Here is the video! Take a look! While I ran to the shore, I looked back saying… “Oh Jorge!”
View over the wooden bridge that takes you to the beach.
Next day we wanted to visit another beach on our way back home, I looked at the map and my eyes stop at Manasota Beach. After breakfast, we set the GPS to that direction, it was one hour drive. First thing, the parking is free!!! And there is plenty of it. Second, it was only 2 minutes walk or less, third there is live guard, (for those that like to feel secure) . Also had nice bathrooms, gazebos, and the best thing it wasn’t crowded. The water was nice and warm, the day was beautiful, the sand didn’t have as much shells as Bowman’s Beach. It was perfect! The wild blue yonder and the clouds were decorating the skies giving us a soothing view.
There is nothing better that have a calm and relaxing view, listening to the hypnotizing pattern of the waves, a book and all the people you love the most there with you.
Late in the afternoon we packed our things and headed back home…
Learning to enjoy the beauty of life wherever we are, wherever we go. I love traveling, I wish I could do it full time. But that is not the case, I work 5 days a week, full time… so I have to make the best of what I have. I live in Florida, then I enjoy Florida at the maximum, I enjoy it with the ones I love. I enjoy so much to be outside, and if you know a little bit of me you know I love the beach. I don’t get tired of going, listening to the waves come and go and the breeze make me forget that I have a full time job, or responsibilities. Is a way of escaping for few hours, I feel like a tourist at home.
Even though I can’t travel full time, I do take vacation often with a purpose! This next Thursday, me and my family are going to do a road trip up north driving from Florida, and hoping to get to the Niagara Falls. I will be posting during our two weeks trip. Don’t miss it. First destination; Washington DC!
Well in the mind time I will leave you with a funny video of some crabby business…
